Older workers: Age bias makes job hunt tougher

More workers over 50 now assume they’ll delay retirement

If you’ve looked for work in recent years, you won’t be surprised to hear that it’s a tough slog and that older job seekers often encounter age bias. But a new survey also finds snippets of good news to cheer older workers and boomer job-hunters.

First, the bad news. Sixty-nine percent of job seekers aged 50 and older said there’s a lack of jobs, 63% said it’s been a challenge to find jobs that pay enough, and 53% said it was tough to find jobs with adequate benefits, according to a telephone survey of 1,024 respondents over 50 by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (NORC, based at the University of Chicago, conducts opinion research in the public interest. You can read the full report here.)

Age discrimination is a problem, job seekers said: 43% of people aged 50 and older who’ve looked for a job in the past five years said they’ve met with employers who are concerned about their age, and 32% said they’ve been told they’re overqualified, according to the survey, which has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points. (Read more: 9 tips to help job seekers beat age bias.)

Fully 20% of all survey respondents aged 50 and up said they’ve personally experienced age bias, either in the job market or at work. That percentage jumped to 28% for nonwhite workers and job seekers.

Reuters

Many job seekers over age 50 say that potential employers have told them they’re concerned about their age. But many also say their experience and skills are in demand.

Still, there is some cause for optimism: 43% of people aged 50 and older who have searched for a job in the last five years said they’ve experienced high demand for their skills, and 31% said they’ve seen demand for their experience.

What’s more, a large proportion of older workers said getting older has brought some welcome changes: 60% said co-workers have sought them out for advice more often, and 42% said that after turning 50, they received more respect within their company.

Almost half want to delay retirement

Given the overall economic picture during and after the Great Recession, perhaps it’s not surprising that almost half of those surveyed said they plan to stay in the workforce longer than they had expected a few years ago.

The survey asked people aged 50 and older when they plan to retire, and how that compared with what their planned retirement age was when they were 40 years old.

All told, 47% of age-50+ workers surveyed said they’ll retire later than they had planned when they were 40.

Specifically, 20% of workers 50 and older said they plan to retire at 70. Just 11% of the survey respondents said that retiring at 70 was their plan when they were 40.

About 27% of the workers surveyed said they expect to retire before age 65. About 36% said that was their expectation when they were 40. And 34% said they’ll retire between 65 and 69, about equal to the 35% who said that was their expectation when they were 40.

Meanwhile, 11% said they’ll never retire, about the same as the 10% who said at age 40 that they expected to never retire.

Money worries

For many, a lack of savings is a problem—and their main source of anxiety. Still, Americans’ feelings about retirement vary widely.

Fully 43% of people aged 50 and older said that in general they are more excited than anxious about retirement.

Another 38% said retirement made them more anxious than excited, 15% said they are neither anxious nor excited, and 2% said that contemplating retirement stirs feelings of both anxiety and excitement.

About half of those surveyed said they’re worried about their lack of savings, while an equal portion said they said they feel “secure” about their savings, according to the survey.

Still, those with paltry savings are much likelier to be worried: 60% of older Americans with $50,000 or less in savings said they’re anxious about retirement, while only 37% of those with more than $50,000 saved said they feel anxious.

Got a pension? You’re less likely to be worried than those who don’t. Fully 58% of people with a pension said they feel secure, while only 36% of those without a pension said they feel secure.

Older workers who borrowed from their retirement plan in the past year also expressed a higher level of worry than other workers: 70% of those who had borrowed from their savings said they felt anxious. (Read more: Retirement savings: How much is enough? )

Blurring lines between work and retirement

Is it retirement if you’re working? Apparently, it is. Among workers aged 50 and up who are not yet retired, 47% said it’s “very” or “extremely likely” and 35% said it’s “somewhat likely” that they’ll work for pay during retirement.

Even as more people say they plan to work later in life, about a quarter of people age 65 and up are doing just that.

Thirteen percent of Americans 65 and older in the AP-NORC survey said they’re working and not retired, 8% said they are working during retirement, and 3% said they’re retired and looking for work.

Seventy-four percent of people aged 65 and up said they are completely retired.

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